Line follower



O. ERICKSON LINE FOLLOWER Deg. 30, 1930.

Filed May 15, 1928 El scat Ericksun (tonne/x Patented Dec. 30, 1930 PATENT OFFICE- OSGAR 'ERICKSON, OF ALEXANDRIA, M INNESOTA LINE FOLLOWER Application iiiIed May 1 5,

This invention relates to a line follower and one object of the invention is to provide a device which may be applied to a sheet of paper, recordbook or other stationery of a like character, with an arm extending across a sheet so that when copying or reading data ,firmly clamped to one side portion of a sheet of paper or book to which the device is to be applied and thereby firmly hold the device in place.

J Another object of the invention is to provide the device with an improved type of arm for extending across a sheet beneath lines of writing thereon and permit the arm to be adjusted longitudinally so that it may accommodate itselfto thewidth of the sheet.

Another object of the invention is to connectthe arm with a carriage movable longitudinally upon a track carried by the body portion of the device so that the arm may be shifted towards the top or the bottom of the sheet and thereby disposed beneath a selected line of writing and easily moved from one line to another. 7

Another object 'of the invention is to provide'improved means for shiftingv a carriage for the'indicating arm longitudinally of a track carried by the body portion of the device and so construct this actuating ni'eans for the carriage that it may also serve to retain the carriage in a set position.

Another object of the invention is to provide the device with a body portion having jaws capableof gripping either a single sheet of paper or a number of sheets placed in a stack or bound in a book.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying [drawing wherein Figure 1 is a top plan view showingthe device applied to a book with the book opened and the arm extending across a page thereof;

1928. Serial Ito. 277,910.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the carriage with elements carried thereby removed.

The body portion of the improved line follower consists of upper and lower plates 1 and 2 formed of sheetinetal and normally held in flat contacting engagement with each other by springs 3 disposed about pins 4-. The pins are carried by the lower plate and may consist of bolts passed upwardly through alined openings in the two plates with their heads bearing against the under surface of the lower plate or they may be welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the lower plate and project upwardly through openings in the upper plate. Nuts 5 are threaded upon the upper end portions of the pins and engage washers 6 which bear against the springs, and it will be readily understood that by adjusting the nuts upon the pins the springs may betensioned to yieldingly retain the upper plate in close contacting engage ment with the lower plate without sufficient pressure being applied to make it diificult to move the upper plate away from the lower plate. Handles 7 and 8 which are substantially U-shaped are provided for the two plates and extend outwardly therefrom with the lower handle curved, as shown in Fig. 2,

so that when the lower plate and its 'handie are resting upon a table or other support and pressure is applied to the upper handle the plate 1 maybe easily swung upwardly away from the lower plate for insertion or removal of sheets or pages of book. When a sheet of paper or the pages of a book are inserted between the upper and lower plates and pressure removed from the upper handle, the springs will again force the upper plate downwardly and thesheetsof paper will be firmly gripped between the arms 9 of the upper plate and corresponding side portion of the-lower plate. f

The carriage 10 which is illustrated in Fig. 3', consists of a tubular body 11 which fits loosely upon 'agrod or track 12 extending across the upper plate with its ends secured in openings or seats formed in flanges 13' at the upper and lower ends of the plate 1. This rod has its upper portion cut to form rack teeth 14, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, for en-- gagementby the teeth of a gear 15 rigidly seunderstood that when the actuating shaft 16 I is rotated by grasping either of its heads 19],

and 20 the gear will be rotated with the shaft and since the teeth of the gearmesh with'the' rack teeth'formed upon therod or shaft 12 the carriage will be shifted longitudinally-of the body portion of the device andmoved either towards the top or bottom of the sheet .grasped between the jawsl and2 according to the direction in which theshaft is rotated.

,A spring 21 is coiled about the shaftbetween the head 19 and adjacent bearing ear and since the shaft fits loosely in theopenings formed in the bearing ears this spring may serve to shift the shaft longitudinally and vnormally retain'a side face of the gearin close contactmg engagement Wltll' the inner side face of the ear against which the spring bears. Therefore, a frictional engagement will take place between the gear. and the bearing ear and,

v 7. therefore, while the carriage may/be easily [shifted longitudinally'of the rack by turning the shaft it will be held in a'set position and prevented from accidentally sliding along the track. Aflat tube 22 extends transversely of the tubular body beneath the same and re ceives a metal strip 23 whichprojectsfrom; the carriage and body portion of the device across the page to be copied and this strip vcarries'an extension 24: which slidably fits thereon 'and a may be moved longitudinally thereof into or'out of an extended position according to whether a-sheetfor body of a standard width is being copied from. Since the tube 22 projects; from both sides of the tubular body and isopen at bothends, it will be lobviousnthat if avery narrow page is to be copiedfrom the extension Q l-may be removed and thestrip 23 slid through the'tube '22 until :it is adjusted 'to accommodate itself 7. to" the width of the sheet:

:When th'e line follower is in use, the hanud les may be grasped and moved toward each other to spread the jaws or plates ;1 and 2 and a sheet of. paper or thepa-ges of ,an

opened bOOk' in'sertedbet een the two jaws. Pressureupon theihandles will then be re- .lieved a d the sheet of: paperv O. thepages of anopenedbook willbe gripped. a :The arm or strip] 23-;an'd its extension 24 will then extend itran sversely across the' the carriage accidentally slipping out of an 7 adjusted position. Therefore, the arm .23 will accurately indicate a line of writing or companion figuresprovided in columns upon 'a sheet of paper'or page of a book, facilitating 'accurate copying or verification and there will be no danger of mistakes being made. When no longer needed, the device canlbe very easily removed by applying pressure "uponthe-handles to swing the 'aws apart..,; v H r Having thus described the invention, I claim:

'1; A line indicator including a support, a rack connected at its ends to the support and spaced therefrom between its ends, a tubulair-body encompassing the rackand slidable thereon, a guide onthe under side of the body'extending across the mats indicating arm slidable in the guide between the rack and support, and a gear elementlmounted upon the body and'coacting with the rack to-move. the body and indicating arm over the support: V 2; Aline indicator including-a support, a rack connected at its ends to'th'e support and spaced therefrom betweemits, ends, a tubular'body" encompassing the 'rack and slidable thereon and provided with upstanding e'ars, a guide ontheunder side of the body extending across the rack, an indicating arm slidable in the guide between the rack and support, a shaft mounted in thesaid'ears, a gear fixed to. the shaft and in mesh with the teeth of therack, and a spring .tending to move the shaft and .hold the gear in frictional engagementwith one of said" ears,

A line indicator including a support comprising upper and lower plates, pins projecting from the lower plate and loosely engaging --thef upper plate, springs on the pins exerting a downward pressure onthe upper; plate, handles projecting 'from the plates, the lower handle being deflected 'downwardlyat'its free end, and adjustable ine indicating means mounted. upon the upper plate.

"In testimony whereoflaffixlmy' signature. OSCAR ERICKSON; [n s] V r sheet of paper orpag'e ofthe bQQk' and' by 5 if rotatingthe shaft; theei carriagelmaybe.adi Ijustedlongitudinally of the 'track' to dis- H posetheindicatingarm beneath-a lineof,

writing jfor'figuresacross the sheet. I Asthe 1 T:

lines ofwriting upon'thepaper or page of. i 

